VAST
By Gregg Plummer
Privately released at www.greggplummermusic.com

VAST begins as a spacemusic album, rather melancholy in mood with a touch of "Gothic" added by ambient vocalist "Tunnel Singer" in track 2, "Blessing." True to classic space-ambient form, Plummer's music consists of slow smooth chord changes, layered with long synthesizer notes and lots of reverb. He works in both major and minor conventional keys, without too much reliance on the overworked modal/pentatonic sound of Euro-American ambient. For instance, Track 3, "Sunspots," is in a quiet and "sunny" major key.

But by Track 4, "Spatial Curve," Plummer's album starts turning into something a bit darker and more ominous. Track 5, "They Await," drops you right out of luminous space into a horrific world of ancient, inhuman intelligences from some black frozen abyss. He uses an effective combination of a deep dark repeating four-note figure topped with knife-thin metallic atonal notes. The next track, "Angel of Forgiveness," moves in a slow funereal orbit, while the piece after that, track 7 "Outside the Womb of Reality," places the listener in a nearly toneless, chilling world of technological drones, while in the distance what might be a persistent alarm bell warns of some unseen emergency. But the composer is merciful, and in the last track, "Embracing Infinity," he returns the listener to the world of rationality and hope, as his slow-moving, icy sound-clouds part to reveal the sunlight of a major chord.

Gregg Plummer's VAST, while remaining within the "tradition" of synthesizer ambient, conveys plenty of emotion and could easily be the soundtrack to a science fiction or space film. The music is purposeful and despite its slowness, it is concentrated enough to encourage imagination and visualization rather than putting you to sleep. Forces of both light and darkness can co-exist in this "Vast" universe.

PRIMORDIAL LANDS ARISE
By "SourceCodeX" (John Patterson)
Privately released at John Patterson's SourceCodeX site.

If Gregg Plummer's VAST encompasses both darkness and light, there is no doubt where "SourceCodeX" John Patterson is coming from. Just a minute or so of PRIMORDIAL LANDS ARISE will make it obvious that John Patterson is a fan of H.P. Lovecraft as well as other horror-fantasy world-spinners. With track titles like "DroneMass," "HellDream Vimana," and "VainTraditionsAbyss," Patterson wants to accentuate the darkness and bury the light alive. This is an album which depends more on textures and unholy evocations than on tonality or melody. Listening to this album you will encounter scaly hissing, distant monster fog horns, alien digestive glurp, hideously distorted voices, buzzing cybernetic insect noises, and deep fuzzy drones, and this is only in the first three tracks.

As the album goes on, Patterson zooms in on you with what sounds like old warplanes, and then plunges the listener into a suffocating hot night filled with toneless industrial drones, looping sonic horrors, and finally an oncoming giant throbbing entity announced by the crash of gongs and a muffled howling. The last track, "AlphaOmegaAdInfinitum," does not offer tonal relief or rays of returning light, but it is at least empty of looming threats, in fact is just empty which might be a relief in itself.

I don't want to see the movie that this would be the soundtrack for. Composer Patterson, who might love that kind of movie, fortunately has a wry sense of humor which offsets the scariness of it all. The graphic packaging for this album, all of it designed by Patterson himself, offers helpful advice such as "We are not responsible for blown speakers or shattered objects," and "Do not drive on long trips or operate heavy machinery while listening to this CD." I would also add, "May experience nightmares while or after listening to this album."

Posted at 11:12 pm | link